Alexey Pertsev was sentenced to 64 months in prison for his role in the development of Ethereum privacy tool Tornado Cash.
On May 14, a three-judge panel of Dutch judges found the Tornado Cash developer guilty of helping launder $2.2 billion through an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency mixer.
Lawyers representing Pertsev argued that it is unfair to hold developers responsible for building a smart contract protocol that anyone can access, a position that has long been echoed by cryptocurrency industry stakeholders.
Dutch prosecutors countered, claiming that Tornado Cash donors failed to protect the platform from criminal elements such as North Korean cybercrime group Lazarus.
The three-judge panel sided with prosecutors, arguing that Tornado Cash was intentionally created for illegal activity. One judge also said that technological ideology does not exempt individuals from the reach of the law.
Pertsev was first arrested in the Netherlands in August 2022, days after the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash on money laundering and illicit financing charges. The main example cited by OFAC was the $600 million attack on Axis Infinity’s Ronin Bridge, which coincidentally was the largest cryptocurrency hack to date. He spent eight months in prison before being released and placed under house arrest.
The judge ruled that his initial eight months in prison would be counted toward his 64-month sentence. Pertsev now faces four years and six months in prison and his lawyers have 14 days to appeal the sentence.
Tornado Cash precedent for crypto mixer case
Although other Tornado Cash developers and co-founders are embroiled in lawsuits in other jurisdictions, Pertsev’s case could set a precedent for how global judiciaries approach cases involving decentralized privacy protocols and crypto mixers.
Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov have been charged with violations in the United States, and Storm’s court case is still ongoing.
Authorities have also ordered investigations into platforms such as the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Samourai Wallet and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) crackdown on cryptocurrency mixers.
The lack of concise definitions and digital asset regulations in the U.S. makes lawsuits over cryptocurrency mixers and privacy protocols particularly contentious. This is because lawmakers and executive agencies have differences of opinion regarding policy interpretation.
As crypto.news reported this week, two senators from both parties questioned FinCEN about the cryptocurrency mixer lawsuit that followed its labeling of such entities as illicit money transmitters.